The Mongol Clan or "Civilization"

It is interesting to me to learn how the Mongols made the most stunning entry in the thirteenth century. The Mongols basically took over the largest land-mased empire in all of "Human History."  They conquered from the Pacific Coast of Asia to Eastern Europe. Although, people don't really agree in the ways Mongols had conquered these countries. Basically it was done by submission and almost very barbaric. The Mongols did not have their own religion nor did they impose it on others. What is very interesting to me is that the basically moved around in caravans and were very wealthy in their time. Some Mongols themselves became absorbed into the settled societies they conquered. The Mongol empire lasted for 300 years. During this time Mongols used different strategies to induce enemy surrender.

Chinggis Khan, and his sons and grandsons constructed an empire that contained China, Korea Central Asia, Russia, much of the Islamic Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. Basically Chinggis Khan had a mission to "unite the whole world in one empire." Mongol warriors were very ruthless on how they would defeat every army, capture every fort, and bring down walls of every city they encountered. The Mongols were feared but many and interesting enough they were very small compared to; for example China where there was 100 to 1 Mongol. The Mongol armies were simply better led, organize and disciplined that those of their opponents.

The Mongols were also very strict in their ways of training and how they trained their armies. They were very loyal and discipline to their leaders and how the leaders reinforced this was by making sure that; should one or two members of a unit desert in battle, all were subject to the death penalty.

As I read more about the Mongols and how they survived economically because, the Mongols themselves produced little of value for distant markets, nor were they active traders. They were smart about promoted international commerce largely so that they could tax it and thus extract wealth from more developed civilizations.  For example Chinggis Khan would often pay well over the asking price in order to attract merchants to his capital of Karakorum. They also providing financial backing for caravans, introducing the weights and measures, and gave tax breaks to merchants that would follow them to their capital.

Interesting to know that the Mongols were not a civilization but were known as a clan. However, when you really think about it the Mongols, I believe they were a civilization They had a system of their own, that worked for them and believed in.